After two games on the road, the UTEP Miners are heading back home. They will take on the Florida Atlantic Owls at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday at Sun Bowl after a week off. Florida Atlantic should still be feeling good after a victory, while the Miners will be looking to right the ship.
UTEP came up short against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs two weeks ago, falling 41-31. UTEP was down 30-10 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from. No one had a standout game offensively for UTEP, but they got scores from a handful of players including RB Deion Hankins, RB Reynaldo Flores, and WR Marcus Bellon. That was the first 300+ yard effort for Hardison this season.
Meanwhile, Florida Atlantic came out on top in a nail-biter against the Rice Owls last week, sneaking past 17-14. The win came about thanks to a strong surge after the first quarter to overcome a 14 to nothing deficit. Florida Atlantic's RB Larry McCammon III filled up the stat sheet, punching in one rushing touchdown.
The Miners are expected to lose this next one by 4. The teams have had problems against the spread this season as they are both 2-4.
UTEP's loss took them down to 3-4 while Florida Atlantic's win pulled them up to 3-4. Giving up four turnovers, UTEP had had trouble holding onto the ball. We'll see if Florida Atlantic can exploit that vulnerability.